Senior journalist and activist Gauri Lankesh has been shot dead at her residence in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Naga on Tuesday.

Reportedly, she was shot by three unidentified gunmen.

Lankesh was the editor of the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, a magazine described as an ‘anti-establishment’ publication.

Last year in November she was convicted of defamation and was sentenced to six months in jail, after she ran a piece in 2008 that Prahlad Joshi, a BJP MP from Dharwad, and Umesh Dushi, also of the BJP, found objectionable.

However, the court also granted her bail and allowed her to appeal to a higher court.

Meanwhile Lankesh’s killing has been widely condemned  across the country.

Condemning the brutal killing of Gauri Lankesh, senior journalists termed the incident highly despicable and called on Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to order an immediate probe to find the perpetrators.

The Editors guild India, while expressing their shock and condemnation , termed the murder as a brutal assault on the freedom of press.

“The Editors Guild demands that the Karnatakka Government acts with alacrity to bring the culprits to justice apart from instituting a judicial probe into the killing, ” a statement issued by the Editors Guild said.

Many other journalists acoross the ountry condemned the murder.

“What happened was highly despicable. I expect the government of Karnataka to order an immediate probe and find the guilty and punish them,” journalist S. Venkat Narayan told a news agency.

Lauding Gauri’s effort and contribution in the field of journalism, Narayan said that the former was a secular, fearless journalist.

“Lot of local politicians had filled case against her. The point is if one does not agree with what a person is writing, then he/she has the right to go to the court and challenge her and seek justice in judicial manner,” he said.

Referring to the killing of activists like Kaliburgi, Govind Pansare, Narendra Dhabolkar and now Gauri Lankesh, another journalist Deepak Tiwari said that such incidents are not acceptable in a democracy.

“This is something that is not acceptable in a democracy, where we stand for free voice and freedom of expression. All journalists like us support journalists fighting for freedom of expression,” he said.

Tiwari said that the way Gauri was crusading the politics of communalism in the country is appreciable.

Senior journalist Mallikarjun Siddannavar also criticised the killing of Lankesh and said, “She was very talented and had journalistic ideology. Killing was a very cruel act. The people of Karnataka and all the journalist condemn this act.”

Guest